Word Confusion: Bard versus Barred

Posted October 8, 2018 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
22 Oct 2022

With fall, teachers start breaking out that Shakespeare, and so many students wish the bard were barred from their coursework . . . sigh . . .

Did I mention that this word confusion pair is an heterograph (a subset of homophone)?

You may also want to explore “Bar vs Barre vs Barre“.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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You may also want to explore “Bar vs Barre vs Barré“.

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Bard	Barred
Dresdner Zwinger, 16th or 17th Century Armour and Weapons by Ingersoll is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — A sixteenth-century knight with a barded horse.	Barred Antshrike (male) by vil.sandi is under the CC BY-ND 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
Part of Grammar:
Noun ¹, ²; Verb, transitive ² Plural for the noun: bards Gerund: barding Third person present verb: bards Past tense or past participle: barded Present participle: barding Alternative spelling ²: barde, barding, barb	Morpheme: bar Adjective ¹; Verb ², transitive Third person present verb: bars Past tense or past participle: barred Present participle: barring
Noun: [Archaic or literary] A poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition ¹ [the Bard or the Bard of Avon] Shakespeare A person who composed and recited epic or heroic poems, often while playing the harp, lyre, or the like Any poet, especially one who writes lyric or heroic verse or is of national importance One of an ancient Celtic order of composers and reciters of poetry, usually about the exploits, often legendary, of their tribes [Today] A poet who wins a verse competition at a Welsh eisteddfod [Armor] Any of various pieces of defensive armor for a horse ² [Cookery] A slice of bacon placed on meat, game, or poultry before roasting to prevent its drying out while cooking Verb, transitive: [Armor] To caparison with armor ² To dress in rich decorative coverings [Cookery] To secure thin slices of fat or bacon to a roast of meat, game, or poultry before cooking	Adjective: Provided with one or more bars ¹ Striped Streaked [Ornithology; of feathers] Marked with transverse bands of distinctive color Verb, transitive: Fasten or equip something, especially a door or window, with a bar or bars ² To block by or as if by bars Prevent or prohibit someone from doing something or from going somewhere Forbid an activity to someone Exclude or except something from consideration [Law] Prevent or delay an action by objection Mark (something) with bars, stripes, or bands
Examples:
Noun: Robert Burns was renowned as the national bard of Scotland in the 18th century. He was admitted as a Bard at the National Eisteddfod. Thomas Moore was an early 18th century bard and contemporary of Lord Byron’s. Back in the day, bards traveled from village to village, performing and telling stories. Shakespeare is commonly recognized as the Bard of Avon. Horse bards became essential as armies adapted to the effectiveness of knights in armor. “Don’t touch that!” mother exclaimed, as she went on to explain, “That bard is for the venison.” Verb, transitive: Tell my squire to bard my horse. Barding the roast holds in the moisture and imparts a slight flavor of the fat. Bard the pheasant in two or more strips of fat to protect the meat from drying out.	Adjective: His view was through a barred prison window. These barred fabrics give it a modern look while adding color. Barred owls usually don’t move farther than six miles away. Verb, transitive: She bolted and barred the door. Journalists had been barred from covering the elections. Boulders barred her passage. The job she loved had been barred to her. Nothing is barred in the crime novel. The judge ordered the witness barred from the courtroom during the trial. His face was barred with light.
Derivatives:
Adjective: bardic, bardish, bardlike Noun: bardism, bardolater, bardolator, bardolatry, bardship	Adjective: barless, barrable, unbarrable Noun: bar, barring Preposition: bar
History of the Word:
Middle English, from the Scottish Gaelic bàrd, the Irish bard, the Welsh bardd, of Celtic origin. In the 16th century in Scotland it was a derogatory term for an itinerant musician, but was later romanticized by Sir Walter Scott. 1470–80, from the Middle French barde, which is from the Southern Italian barda meaning armor for a horse, which is from the Arabic bardaʿah meaning packsaddle, which is itself from the Persian pardah meaning covering.	Middle English word dating back to 1300–50. Middle English, from the Old French barre (noun), barrer (verb), is of unknown origin.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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